Are you passionate about becoming a detective or you ever suspected anything or anyone before? Well the adventure and thrill, involved in this profession, has helped it achieve higher-level of success in the modern age. Most of the youngsters, who follow their dreams of becoming a detective, have been able to prove themselves by achieving success. However before you chose to be a detective, it is important to know the basics about this profession.

A detective or a private investigator (PI) is involved in conducting investigations for various clients ranging from a business, organization or a private citizen even. Many detectives also work for attorneys in civil cases or criminal cases on behalf of a defense attorney or a client. The insurance agencies also hire private detectives to get crucial clues against the suspicious insurance claims. They are also involved in searching evidences of adultery or other illegal conduct within a marriage to establish grounds for divorce or child custody.

The detectives can be classified in the following types:

Apart from all these basics and duties of a detective, the first and most important thing you must know about detectives is that you must learn how to follow leads. A lead can prove to be a crucial aspect in solving a mystery or a financial case even.

Lead

A lead can be anything ranging from a murder weapon, computer data, mobile details and many more. In simple language, lead is a piece of information pointing towards what you may want to know. Sometimes this can be a sign even, if you are tracking someone outdoors. Follow lead and you can get essential information about a person that can point you in the right direction in investigating your topic.

In the online investigation cases, a lead can be things like a name, address, phone number, a social security number, etc. This is usually information that you can use like sign for tracking the culprit and getting more information about the person. Remember, the better the lead, the easier you solve the case.

Apart from the lead part, work hours of the detectives are also important to know. There are no working hours for detectives. Yes, you heard right! They follow no timetable. Detectives often work irregular hours to conduct surveillance and contact people that are related to their case. However as the persons may not be available during normal working hours, detectives have to go miles away to contact these people. The time could be early morning, evening, weekend or even holidays.

Education

Of course, education is an important factor if you want to become a detective. An individual would need to have completed a certain level of education such as a college degree or special course in forensic science. At the college, criminal justice program is also ideal as this will provide you with the necessary skills and information that will help to be a successful detective.